As chemical compounds foreign to the biosphere are produced and discharged into the environment, the risk of accumulation to toxic levels becomes a concern. The magnitude of the risk depends to a large extent on the biodegradability of the compound which, in turn, is dependent to some extent on the inherent or adapted ability of microorganisms to assimilate the compound or its components or derivatives. Many of these chemical compounds are resistant to biodegradation. However, some of these new compounds are biodegraded in relatively short periods by soil bacteria which apparently adapt to metabolizing the new substrates. Such adapted strains that may be isolated from nature, however, may have growth characteristics which do not promote their development in sufficient numbers to assure significant degradation of a target compound molecule.
Of particular concern herein are chemical compounds which are discharged into industrial effluent streams. Without proper treatment, the compounds may be ultimately discharged to receiving waters. A majority of the organic compounds are now degraded using biological treatment plants, thereby lowering the total organic carbon in the final effluent which is discharged to a receiving waterway. The ability of the microbial flora to digest the raw wastewater components is challenged when new compounds foreign to them are introduced. If they are unable to metabolize these new compounds, it is likely that the compound will be discharged without modification, a result which can be serious if the compound is toxic or can be converted to become toxic by other environmental components.